


Together

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Biowarfare, Child Death, Death By Virus, Enforced Quarantine, F/M, Gen, M/M, Mass Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-27 23:59:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10819476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: The moment you look up and realize you're not going home. Things long hidden come to light, and it may be more of a struggle than one thought to keep one's friendships to the last moment. Is love strong enough?





	Together

**Author's Note:**

> Not entirely happy with the summary, but it's 5:30 AM and I woke up at 4. I'm hoping to run off and play some Star Wars: The Old Republic next. I'd say see you there, but who are we kidding? You all should be sound asleep. Not running around Alderaan killing Organas. (Which, can I just say, feels spectacularly wrong.)

 

 

“Easy,” Obi-Wan murmured, drawing the Force close around the sufferer. His fingers caressed the cold forehead, his heart went out to the poor child.

A little one, whose parents had already succumbed.

She tried to turn her head, to  _see_ their bodies—

“Look at me,” Obi-Wan whispered. “Look at me.”  
Exhausted eyes found his, and tears trembled in the brown depths.

Obi-Wan gave her a gentle smile. “So brave. The pain will go away soon.”

She shivered, whimpered—

Obi-Wan's heart broke. He gathered the ten-year-old in his arms and held her close to his chest as she struggled to breathe.

“Udesi,” he whispered, tears slipping down his cheeks to hide in his beard. “Udesi, precious one.”

The child's fingers clenched in his tunic, agony racked the small form—

Obi-Wan curled over her, wishing he could  _spare_ her, if only there was a way to take it from her—

The breath fell from her lungs and the Force felt just a bit darker.

Laying the corpse on the ground, Obi-Wan gently closed the eyelids.

She hadn't even had the strength to tell him her name.

Obi-Wan was on his feet and moving to the next victim, every other instinct stilled but the one to bring mercy.

Somewhere nearby he felt,  _heard_ Anakin comforting a dying mother who had lost her children, and was swift following them.

Clones stroked hands, foreheads, helped those failing drink water that wouldn't slake the burning thirst.

Obi-Wan was feeling it himself.

But as long as he could kneel and crawl, he would  _help_ these poor people.

He saw a ship take off, a desperate race for the sky. He paused, staring up—

Saw the massive bolts that tore down, obliterating both the freighter and a large part of the town.

Yularen wasn't taking any chances.

Orbital bombardment to prevent escapees might seem overkill...

_But better to overreact than to lose the quarantine._

In a matter of hours it would be over anyway.

And then they could burn the planet, and place the Senate seal.

With any luck, no one would return here.  _Ever._

Obi-Wan felt the virus eating its way through his veins, sensed the thousands dying with every heartbeat.

So many had already succumbed.

A billion. The planet's population.

Infected, every one of them.

Already millions had died. The weight of it chained Obi-Wan's soul, made his heart bleed.

He could see Anakin's face turning to his when they realized the implications of what had happened. The wide, frightened look in his eyes that made him look like a child again.

The way he searched Obi-Wan's face, desperate for  _comfort,_ since salvation was impossible.

The way Anakin's head swiveled, taking in  _so many_ 501 st and 212 th soldiers here with them.

Rex pulling off his helmet, his expression grim.

The clones huddling together, their worry and grief loud in the Force.

Not that they were dying...

But that it wasn't on a battlefield. There was nothing for them to  _fight._ They couldn't make the enemy pay dearly for the victory.

It was simply a matter of time.

It had been painful to watch the planet fall into chaos. The desperate terror of people who knew they were about to die,  _convinced_ that if they could just  _escape the planet,_ they could somehow be saved.

_“They're scared, Obi-Wan,”_ had been Anakin's choked whisper.

_“Of course they are,”_ had been his heavy reply.  _“They have every right to be. It's our job to ease what suffering we can.”_

The clones had discovered they  _did_ have one last enemy to punch in the nose.

Death itself.

Each sufferer who didn't die alone, whose fear was slightly relieved,  _that_ was a victory.

So they fought. They spit in death's face, and they threw up one last vicious act of defiance, found in gentle fingers and compassion.

Frip death.

Frip the Separatist scientists responsible for this, who thought  _anything_ could justify this.

And thank the  _Force_ for Yularen's nerves of steel. For the Republic team that had figured it out in time.

For the fact it was  _contained._

The man Obi-Wan knelt beside reached out, blind with pain. Obi-Wan met his desperate hand with a calm grip from his own.

“Save my family,” the nameless one begged. “ _Please._ ”

Obi-Wan's own heart beat with grim agreement.

The desperate anguish of knowing he couldn't save his family either. Not Anakin, not the clones.

The father died. Obi-Wan placed a hand on his shoulder in silent farewell, a blessing that might be meaningless given the scope of the evil... but meaning the universe in this moment.

Obi-Wan tried to stand, sank back to his knees, curling around a fist pressed to his gut.

“General?” Rex sounded panicked.

“Get Anakin,” Obi-Wan murmured. “It's time.”

 

* * *

 

Anakin raced through the camp, fear churning through his heart. He found Obi-Wan surrounded by clones, curled up on his side and shivering. They'd carried him to a clear spot amidst the dead, a little ways away from those still dying.

Anakin crashed to his knees by the failing body, his heart bursting. “It's not time,” he protested, tears in his voice. “The weak ones go first, the strongest—”

“The Force hides many things, Anakin,” Obi-Wan explained, his voice barely more than a whisper. “It's been a long time since I had good health. But I'd hoped— I wanted you to go first, so I could ease your passage. So you wouldn't be alone.”

A silent drop tore free from Anakin's eye, spilling down his face. “You've been my anchor all my life, Obi-Wan. It's my turn.”

He gathered his former master in his arms, cradling him close in the hold all Jedi were taught.

Obi-Wan listened for his heartbeat, reached out for Anakin's calm—

And though it killed him to do it, Anakin stilled the agony of his soul to allow Obi-wan that comfort.

He could sense his friend's surprise and sheer gratitude, the way Obi-Wan clung to him in the Force, feeling  _safe_ .

_This_ is what it meant to be Jedi. Anakin hadn't understood it until this moment.

It meant utter  _thankfulness_ that Ahsoka wasn't here.

It meant such love for complete strangers that you held their disease-ridden hands and let them know they were not alone.

It meant letting the man who raised you die with dignity, on his own terms.

 

* * *

 

Obi-Wan knew what it cost Anakin to offer him this peace, this gentleness in death.

Anakin's nature would be to rage, to scream against the approaching night.

He put aside those urges for Obi-Wan. Out of a selfless desire to ease his suffering.

In the Force, the light of Anakin's choice nearly dazzled Obi-Wan's senses.

_So beautiful._

He gave a faint smile up at the creature he'd loved so dearly. “So proud of you, Anakin. It's an honor to die alongside you.”

A hand found his and squeezed.

 

* * *

 

Through tears, Anakin marveled at Obi-Wan's calm.

His master had never been more beautiful.

Rex moved from the protective, watching circle and knelt beside them, reaching out to lightly touch Obi-Wan's shoulder. “General?”

Obi-Wan's gaze tracked to his in silent question.

“There's something I've wanted to experience. And pretty soon none of us are going to have the chance anymore. Will you let me?”

Obi-Wan's forehead, already furrowed in pain, twisted further with confusion. “Certainly, Captain? What is it—”

Anakin realized what was coming only a split second before Obi-Wan did, and that was only a heartbeat before Rex's lips were against Obi-Wan's own.

Bewildered, Anakin simply held his master and watched.

He saw Rex's tongue request entry, Obi-Wan's mouth grant it, wondered how in all nine Corellian hells he'd been blind enough to  _miss_ Rex's attraction to Obi-Wan.

_Obi-Wan, of all people._

Rex pulled back, looking slightly dazed.

Obi-Wan's head lay back against Anakin's arm, the weight too much for him to hold up on his own. “Well, Captain, was it what you anticipated?”

“Better,” he admitted, looking slightly abashed.

A tiny smile pushed its way through the signs of pain. “I wish you'd had a chance to live a longer life, Rex. You and all your brothers.”

“We know, Sir.” As he stood to retreat, he murmured a hasty, “And we love you for it,” before he fled.

“I did  _not_ see that coming,” Anakin admitted.

Obi-Wan sagged against him, his body fighting its last fight. “Neither did I.”

“Tell me that wasn't your first kiss.”

A whisper of a laugh. “I suppose it will scar you for life to know it was.”

“Beyond the grave,” Anakin joked, tone very solemn.

“Wouldn't want that. Let's pretend I have experience, then.”

_Force. He's leaving Satine forever, and never even shared a kiss._

They were never going to have the chance again.

Padmé's face flooded his vision, knocking the wind clean out of him.

_She'll wait for me, and I won't come home._

“Obi-Wan, there's something I want you to know.” If they were going to die here, together, at least... at least  _this_ should be addressed. The fear of it eased against the knowledge that it was  _right._ The desire for Obi-Wan to actually  _know_ him. “I'm married.”

Obi-Wan's head craned up, his eyes widening in shock.

“To Padmé. It happened right after Geonosis. When I escorted her back to Naboo.”

Obi-Wan's breathing grew labored, a terrible, rasping struggle. At first Anakin feared it was the virus, and then he realized it was from panic.

“You—  _lied_ to me? About  _this_ ?”

Anakin hated the broken look that entered his master's eye. “Obi-Wan, I—”

“Do you have any idea how much I  _hated_ myself after going undercover to save your mentor and friend? You refused to forgive me for lying to you about something so important, you made me  _abhor_ myself, I couldn't look in the mirror for  _weeks—_ all I could see was how you  _wouldn't_ have lied about something  _so important—_ even  _if_ it was to save someone I loved—”

He hadn't thought about that. He hadn't, when he'd yelled at Obi-Wan, when he'd shamed him, when he'd said cruel,  _cruel_ things—

_Wait... he saved the Chancellor for_ me _?_

_Of course he did._

_Oh,_ Force,  _Obi-Wan..._

Obi-Wan pulled himself free from Anakin's arms, trying to crawl away from him, tiny gasps of anguish escaping him.

Anakin wasn't sure they were caused by physical pain.

“So sure Anakin would have found another way, that I had chosen wrongly, had been worse than an idiot. So convinced I had utterly betrayed your trust.” A shudder ran through Obi-Wan's shoulders, and Anakin realized he was weeping. Silent,  _agonized_ tears.

He could sense how  _vile_ Obi-Wan had felt himself to be. How desperately he'd punished himself for his perceived betrayal.

How terribly he'd suffered.

_It cost me nothing to withhold forgiveness._

He'd  _never_ actually said Obi-Wan had been forgiven. He'd slowly stopped punishing his best friend, but he'd never actually said the slate had been wiped clean.

_I lied to him because I didn't want him to think less of me. Because I didn't want to have to make a choice between one path and another._

_He lied to me because he wanted to save the life of someone I loved. Because he saw no other way out, and he was willing to risk his friendships to protect someone I needed in my life._

Anakin still hated the fact that Obi-Wan had let him go through that, but—

_As far as reasons go... he had the better one._

Anakin had wanted the glory of being a Jedi hero without the sacrifices it required.

He'd refused to let go of the fame of a title to live the life he'd actually wanted. He'd been unwilling to let go of the adoration and acclaim he could collect by appearing to be a Jedi when his heart had long ago walked away from the Order.

_And because I wasn't man enough to admit the Jedi way was no longer my path, everyone suffered._

The Jedi suffered when he made decisions that hurt them, hurt the war effort, hurt civilians.

Padmé suffered because while he claimed to be fully dedicated, he wasn't willing to actually put his money where his mouth was.

And Obi-Wan...

“How could you let me suffer that way?” Obi-Wan whispered, voice so broken. “ _How_ ? How could you look at me with such loathing and disappointment and betrayal and  _crush me_ for my deceit? How could you let me hate myself  _so deeply—_ ”

With the weight of Obi-Wan's anguish, his shields faltered, and Anakin  _saw._

Images spilled through, impressions, sensations, feelings—

Utter hell had reigned in Obi-Wan's mind for  _weeks_ after his return from the “dead.”

It was worse than just avoiding the mirror.

He hadn't eaten. He'd pushed himself harder. Risked himself more carelessly in battle.

He'd felt so  _worthless,_ for lying to the other half of his soul.

Tears streamed down Anakin's face as he  _knew._

Anakin had never felt so torn over his own deception. Ever.

And yet when he'd seen Obi-Wan's self-abasement, he'd been  _pleased,_ because Obi-Wan  _deserved to suffer_ for what he'd done.

_How could I have been so blind?_

“Obi-Wan... I'm sorry.” Anakin moved from his frozen place, trying to gather his other half up again—

Obi-Wan pushed away, refusing him. Too weak to truly escape, he shivered against the hard ground of a planet that would have to be cleansed in fire to escape the plague's embrace.

“I messed up,” Anakin pleaded. “I should have  _told_ you sooner—”

Obi-Wan's eyelids fell shut so he wouldn't have to see Anakin's face.

“Master,  _please._ ”

“Why?” Obi-Wan's voice was nearly inaudible. “Why did my loyalty have to be different from yours? Why was I left to endless nights of wretchedness while you had  _no_ intention of granting me what you demanded  _of_ me?”

_It's not just Padmé I lied about._

“Is that all I am to you? A possession to be used how you see fit, while my every heartbeat had to be about  _you_ ?  _It was about you._ It was always about you. I thought— I thought we were  _friends._ How much of what you showed me was even real?”

_So little, Obi-Wan._

“How much does Palpatine know?”

Anakin couldn't reply.

“And Padmé?”

Again, his own soul condemned him.

“So I was right,” Obi-Wan mused. Somehow, the resigned tone hurt Anakin even worse than the reproach had. “I suspected that you would consider the cost worth it, if your relationship with Palpatine was saved with the loss of ours. At least I wasn't completely blind.”

“That's not right,” Anakin choked, his voice trembling. “Obi-Wan, you  _can't_ think that.”

Obi-Wan dragged himself to his hands and knees and attempted once more to  _escape._ “Leave me alone. Let me die in peace. I'm sick of these relationships where I'm disposable, where I'm the only one bound to loyalty. I thought I'd found a  _real friendship,_ but you're just another Qui-Gon _—_ ”

“Easy, General,” Cody intervened, moving in and rolling Obi-Wan to sit, his arms locked in Cody's unrepentant embrace. “You don't need to go anywhere. Just rest.”

“ _Frip you,_ ” Obi-Wan snarled. “I want to be alone. I want to get to the forest and be  _alone._ ”

Anakin's heart shattered.

_He thinks dying alone would be better than staying here with us._

_With me._

“You're not disposable, I  _swear._ ” Anakin reached out a hand, but thought better of actually touching Obi-Wan at the moment. “I— I was selfish and afraid, and I didn't  _think._ I didn't  _want_ to hurt you—”

Obi-Wan's  _look_ silenced him.

He  _had_ wanted to hurt Obi-Wan. Had wanted to hurt him  _badly._

“Will you lie to me still?” Obi-Wan whispered. “To the very end?” He gasped in air as a new wave of virus-induced pain struck him. He convulsed in Cody's arms, the clone holding him close, murmuring soothing nonsense in his ear.

_That should be me holding him._

_I shouldn't have told him._

There'd been no real  _point,_ and if he hadn't, they'd still be in that beautiful place they'd had before he spoke up—

“Don't you  _dare,_ ” Obi-Wan hissed, reproach in his eyes. “The problem isn't that you were found out. It's that it happened in the first place.”

“Nothing has really changed,” Anakin hedged. “I'm still the same person I was five minutes ago.”

Obi-Wan looked away, unable to physically escape, but the rebellion of his soul clear. “What is it about me? What  _draws_ men like you to me? Do I have some sign on my back that screams  _naive, will follow you to the death and never cost you anything_ ?”  
“I  _love_ you,” Anakin protested.

Obi-Wan's eyes fell shut again. “No. You really don't. You love the way I made you feel. It's why you decided what I had a right to know and what I didn't. What I had a right to conceal and what I didn't. It's why you manipulated me. You didn't want me to be  _me_ in response to  _you_ being  _you._ You wanted me to behave in a certain way, so you presented a false you and never let me see the real. My only question is why in hell's name you would tell me now. Was it guilt? Did my praise  _finally_ become a bit difficult to swallow? Or was it ego? You wanted my final breath to be an assurance of  _forgiveness,_ that  _you aren't so bad after all_ ? Is that what Padmé gives you, or Palpatine? Is that why you're honest with them and not me?”

That— that  _wasn't_ why— it was a  _coincidence—_

_Do I only confide in those who would make excuses for me?_

When was the last time Padmé or Palpatine held him accountable for  _anything_ ?

_Padmé kicked me out after Clovis... but when he died, she brought me right back in._

Her response had no teeth, and didn't last.  
“Obi-Wan.” Anakin didn't try to stay the tears streaming from his eyes.  _We're out of time._ If he wanted to be allowed to hold his master, to relieve the suffering he'd brought, he had just  _one_ chance. Just one. “I have  _no_ justification for any of this. I was  _wrong._ Terribly wrong. You're right, I expected more from you than I was willing to give. I didn't see it. I was blind.”

He bit his tongue to keep from adding a  _but._

Just one  _but_ would shatter every last hope he might dare for.

Obi-Wan watched him with dull, pained eyes.

“I  _used_ you. I didn't even think about it. I manipulated you and it was  _wrong._ It was  _cruel_ and selfish. And I—”

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan interrupted, barely audible. “Stop.”

Anakin's heart broke.  _He's going to refuse me._

“Hold me.”

Hardly daring to believe forgiveness might be extended in time, Anakin took Obi-Wan from Cody and carried him with absolute tenderness a little ways away from the clones.

 

* * *

 

He sank to the ground, cradling Obi-Wan as if his former master was the greatest treasure in the world.

_Oh, my Anakin._

A hand, warm like a furnace, wrapped tight around one of his own, squeezing so hard Obi-Wan half expected bones to snap.

“Anakin.”

“Yes?” Anakin whispered, sniffing hard. “I'm here. Oh, Force, I'm  _here._ ”

Obi-Wan was so tired, his eyelids weighed so  _much..._

“I love you. I thought you knew. I told you in every way I knew how.”

Anakin's arms tightened around him. “I knew it,” the other man whispered. “In spite of anything I ever said, I never doubted it once.”

Obi-Wan wasn't sure he believed it, but decided that didn't matter.

What mattered was he could give Anakin one last gift.

He could let him think Obi-Wan believed it.

“'f I could go back, do it over, I wouldn't trade any of it.” That, at least, was true.

Anakin's shoulders shook, once, and a tear landed on Obi-Wan's forehead. “Not even the gundark nest?”  
“Well... maybe the gundark nest.”

Anakin sobbed a laugh and then hissed in pain.

Clones looked up, knowing.

Obi-Wan pulled his gaze away from them and looked back to Anakin, who stared down into his eyes,  _also_ knowing.

The anguish seemed to ease from Anakin as he realized he wouldn't be left alone for long. He twined his fingers with Obi-Wan's.

“Forgive me?” Anakin whispered.

And that... that Obi-Wan didn't have to lie about. “Yes. Forgive me?”  
Anakin pressed the back of Obi-Wan's hand to his lips. “Yes.”

And then he was too tired, so he just rested in Anakin's arms, observing the pain that raced through his body.

 

* * *

 

After a time, Anakin could no longer sit upright himself, and lay down beside him. Hands clasped, simply waiting...

Eventually Obi-Wan's eyes fell closed for the final time, death taking him like sleep.

Anakin curled forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

Strangely enough, Anakin's tears seemed gone. Peace cradled them, the living and the dead, as Anakin left their fingers entwined and watched Obi-Wan's still face until his own eyelids were too heavy to hold open any longer.

He let them fall shut, squeezed the chilled fingers one last time...

And slipped away.

 

* * *

 

_And when not a breath of life stirred on the surface of a plague-drenched planet, when satellite images finally reached the outside universe, horrifying a galaxy with the atrocity that had strewn the dead across the ground, one picture stood out from the rest._

_The clones, all curled up together as if for a nap—_

_And Skywalker and Kenobi, hand in hand._

 


End file.
